Here are the suggestions from LM_NETters with knowledge of HS literature with the
themes I was requesting on the listserv.
Thanks to all!!
...just finished a book which might be of interest to the high school teacher, Blue
Hole Back Home by Joy Jordan-Lake. Main characters are high school students who
live in a mountain community of North Carolina. The year is 1979, and although
their parents have lived through the civil rights movement, the teens have not had
to grapple with the issues of intolerance and hate crimes. Great character
development and description. Having lived in the southeast for ten years, the
voices ran true for me. Just finished it today, and it may very well be the best
book I read this year. I highly recommend this for a high school student.
***
Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Patillo Beals ? It's her autobiography as a member of
the Little Rock Nine.
http://www.amazon.com/Warriors-Dont-Cry-Searing-Integrate/dp/0671866397
<http://webmail.osceola.k12.wi.us/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.amazon.com/Warriors-Dont-Cry-Searing-Integrate/dp/0671866397>
- there are two versions; a YA (7-up) and an adult version.
***
These titles are among the ones we have successfully used for a term paper
analyzing the realism of a novel with a prejudice theme compared with a nonfiction
work discussing the same type of discrimination. In addition to addressing the
racism issue, each novel touches in the themes of wholesome family relationships,
friendship, and/or caring for students and other community members.
More Than Meets the Eye by Jean Betancourt
Shadow of the Dragon by Sherry Garland
Finding My Voice by Marie G. Lee
White Lilacs by Carolyn Meyer
Juanita Fights the School Board by Gloria Velasquez
***
one that is coming to mind immediately is If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson.
It's about an interracial relationship between two teenagers at a private high
school and the attention it draws. It's a beautiful novel about caring for someone
else despite what others think.
***
A very simple and small book is called "Seed Folks". On first glance, you will
think that it is written for maybe 6th grade or so due to size and small chapters.
However, the message it carries is much larger and high school students would grasp
that. It is about a community in a run down neighborhood in which multi cultures
live but have very little to do with each other. Until they begin to plant a
community garden in the place of a ghetto dump area and the cultures begin caring
and sharing and relating with one another.
***
Take a look at Bone by Bone by Bone by Tony Johnston. This book is definitely aimed
for the high school level. There is some language (most notably the N word ) that
some might find offensive but the language is historically accurate. A milder
version of the same theme would be The Liberation of Gabriel King by K.L. Going. I
thought both of these books were excellent.
***
End of copied recommendations gathered from LM_NET query
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Marcia Dressel, K-5 Librarian @ the
Elementary and Intermediate Schools
Osceola, WI
dressel@osceola.k12.wi.us <mailto:dressel@osceola.k12.wi.us>
http://www.myteacherpages.com/webpages/MDressel/
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